June   2004   VOLUME 57: Number 6 Veterinary Ireland Journal Page CONTENTS         Peer review articles are available in full as  Acrobat PDF files You will need to download the Acrobat reader    which can be got free at this web site

EDITORIAL   

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Harmonisation of food safety standards

The past few months have seen landmark changes in food safety in Europe. Immediately prior to the accession of the ten new Member States, key legislation in a number of areas was adopted. One of these, the ‘hygiene package’, was just recently finalised. Prior to this, EU hygiene legislation was scattered over 17 separate Directives. The hygiene package, dubbed a ‘recast’ of the EU’s food safety legislation, is composed of five parts covering general hygiene, hygiene of foodstuffs of animal origin, official controls and animal health rules for products of animal origin intended for human consumption, and a Directive repealing the previously existing legislation. According to Commissioner David Byrne, the new legislation will create a single, transparent hygiene policy. What changes will this mean for the ‘official veterinarian’ involved in meat inspections?

Under the new legislation, the inspection of live animals and dead animals is under the responsibility of the official veterinarian, who may be assisted by official auxiliaries and, under specific circumstances and only for poultry and rabbit meat, by slaughterhouse staff. Extensive and detailed training is necessary for veterinarians, auxiliaries and slaughterhouse staff involved in meat inspection. At least one official veterinarian will need to be present in the slaughterhouse throughout the inspection of live and dead animals. The same applies for game-handling establishments during the post-mortem inspection.

Inspection on the farm by an approved veterinarian is also possible. In the case of pigs, for example, a health certificate must accompany the animals and they must be slaughtered within three days of inspection.

The main change is that the new rules allow for a more modern approach based on risk assessment, which means that under certain conditions it is possible to limit the post-mortem inspection to a visual examination, except of course when abnormalities are detected. For example, fattening pigs kept under controlled housing conditions in integrated production systems would qualify for such an inspection procedure.

In future, the traditional meat inspection tasks of the official veterinarian will be increasingly replaced by auditing tasks. For example, the official veterinarian will have to verify the implementation of the HACCP system, which will include assessment of critical control points, checking daily records, verification of the proper application of hygiene procedures, etc. Meat inspection will not, however, be privatised. The official veterinarian is ultimately responsible for meat inspection, although properly trained auxiliaries can assist him or her. In establishments where poultry and lagomorphs (e.g., rabbits) are slaughtered, the veterinarian can also be assisted by slaughterhouse staff, under specific conditions. Slaughterhouse staff cannot, however, carry out exactly the same tasks as auxiliaries. For example, slaughterhouse staff may not carry out any auditing tasks.

With respect to wild game, a person in the hunting team who has been specifically trained for this task will perform the initial inspection of the hunted animal. If the meat is placed on the market, in most cases a second post-mortem inspection will be performed by the official veterinarian at the game-handling establishment.

When a farmer is sending animals for slaughter, he will have to register all health-related problems and interventions and send the relevant information to the slaughterhouse 24 hours before sending the animals for slaughter. In return, he will receive information from the official veterinarian on any abnormalities detected following the slaughter of the animals.

There must also be supervision by an official veterinarian or an official auxiliary in cutting plants when meat is being worked upon, but the frequency of inspections is flexible and can be determined by the competent authority based on the risks involved.

The food establishment operator has the primary responsibility to ensure that hygiene rules are respected, while the competent authority (government) verifies the situation by regular inspections. All food business operators need to be registered. Some businesses, such as slaughterhouses and cutting plants, need approval before they can operate.

Imported products of animal origin have to meet the EU’s food safety standards, including the hygiene rules. The importation of such products is therefore only allowed from countries and establishments that appear on an community list managed by the European Commission on behalf of the EU Member States.

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